Chapter 39
Evie
The Recast
Me: Raissa, this is Evie. Tell Dante I have to go. I won’t be filming anymore
Raissa: What?
Me: this week. Sorry, hit send early. I’ve got to go.
With shaky hands, I turned off the cheap burner phone I’d bought on the way to the airport and shoved it into my pocket.
They’d warned me about being tracked.
I stared ahead, watching people come and go through the lobby. I pressed my lips together, trying to hold in my fear and emotions.
The video I’d been sent hours ago had rattled me to the core.
My hands were still shaking from the initial text, and my heart rate refused to slow.
Someone had kidnapped Antoinette. They’d tied her to a chair and gagged her with a handkerchief.
I’d watched the video a dozen times, memorizing everything I could about the brick background, the noises the floor made, and the lighting coming from the windows.
“This industry only works if everyone falls in line. We have been given no choice but to teach those who need it a lesson. If you don’t learn your place, this will end in a bloodbath.”
Following the video came a text message with an address in Detroit, along with a timer for ten hours.
I’d already burned two just getting here and waiting.
There was a chance that following the sender’s instructions—to come alone and leave my phone at home—would get me killed too, but I couldn’t ignore the video. Antoinette had been taken, and if I were lucky, she’d be alive when I found her.
And if I wasn’t lucky…then I hoped they’d bury us together.
ANTOINETTE’S BODY HAD been left tied up and slumped in a chair in an old, abandoned restaurant. I’d slowly walked over, although it was obvious from the hole in her temple, the blood on the walls and down her body, that she was dead.
This will end in a bloodbath.
I untied Antoinette and used all my strength to drag her body out.
Adrenaline powered me, and once we were out, I dropped to the sidewalk and sobbed, holding her body to my chest. Antoinette had been more than just an agent.
She was my friend. She’d helped me start my career and encouraged me to come back to Hollywood.
To sit there with her body, waiting for the police to come, it rivaled the pain of the day my mom died.
I screamed, I sobbed, I fought for air as I clutched her to my chest, soaking her hair with my tears.
It was as if I’d been torn in two, my entire heart shredded, as the realization that she was gone, and it was my fault hit me, wave after wave, harder and harder each time.
With each moment that passed while I waited for the disinterested police to show, the pain grew. The anger grew.
How could they take so long? She was human. Antoinette did nothing but shine light out into the world, and when flashing lights finally came and they pulled her body from my arms, my grief shifted to fury.
“Well, I doubt we’ll find much. There’re no cameras in this area, and she’s been dead a while.”
They weren’t even going to look. I knew how people like this worked. They didn’t care because they knew it was too dangerous to go digging. It was what happened to my mother. No one dared investigate deeper, because they knew whatever they found wouldn’t be worth their own lives.
That’s what separated them from me. I didn’t care. I was going to get my revenge. But now, it was more than Lita Reyes. I was doing it for Antoinette as well.
“Would you like a ride, miss?” An officer asked. I turned to him, stone faced, and nodded at the ambulance taking my friend away, covered in a sheet. He saw my pained expression and attempted to offer sympathy. “There’s nothing you can do for her.”
Oh, I could think of a few things.
RETURNING HOME A week later, I turned my phone on.
It had died while I was away. I felt numb.
One day, we were making deals and talking about the future.
The next, I had been sent a clip of her snuff video and an address to retrieve her body.
I found out later that day that I’d only seen the first half of the video.
The full-length version had been sent to news outlets, where, right after the man gave his speech, he put the gun to her head and pulled the trigger.
They’d never intended to let me save her. They’d been trying to draw me out, and it had worked. I was lucky to be alive, having left everything behind the way I did—with no phone and without telling anyone where I was going. But I didn’t feel all that fortunate.
Once the phone powered on, it pinged for almost three minutes straight with notifications.
I’d expected this, as I’d dropped everything right in the middle of filming the biggest horror movie of the year with no notice or explanation.
I was sure they’d gotten word of Antoinette’s murder by now.
It was everywhere. The flowers on my doorstep confirmed it.
The dings eventually stopped, and I picked up the phone to sort through them all.
I gave up a moment later, feeling so overwhelmed by the names, numbers, and messages on the screen.
Setting an alarm, I lay down in bed and decided to show up to the studio tomorrow morning and hope I could plead for my job back.
Even though I fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillows, my alarm came too soon. I pulled myself up and almost fell back down. I ached from a week’s worth of tears and strain on my brain and body.
I braced myself for the looks of pity and awkward apologies for my loss on my way to set, but there weren’t as many as I’d been prepared for. Instead, there were a lot of confused stares. I reached my trailer and stopped short when I saw a dent in the door. What the hell?
“Evie!” Dante rushed over. “I heard you were on set. I…didn’t know you were coming. We haven’t cleaned your trailer yet. I wouldn’t go in there. Let’s get you right to hair and makeup. I gotta figure out some things.”
“Clean it? It wasn’t dirty when I left.”
“Yeah, but then Sebastian threw a fit and... Ah, let’s just move on.
Don’t even think about it.” He grabbed my shoulders from behind and directed me toward makeup.
I wasn’t happy, but I was tossed into a chair before I could investigate further.
The stylists made small talk as they curled my hair.
They asked about Antoinette and offered their condolences, but then we moved on to the normal things we’d chat about, and I felt a sense of relief.
While my heart would never go back to how it was before they’d killed her, I could pretend for a little bit that it hadn’t been my fault.
I was sent to wardrobe, where they seemed unsure of what to put me in.
I stood around awkwardly until finally someone handed me a set of black lace lingerie and a red silk robe.
I’d forgotten that last week we were supposed to start the sex scenes.
I slipped them on, but as I started out of the room, I heard commotion nearby and stopped.
“If she’s here, change it back.” Sebastian’s voice. He was mad at something or someone.
“We can’t. I just spent an hour on the phone with producers trying—”
Cautiously, I scooted forward to peek around a column. He was standing with Dante, waving his arms furiously. Dante looked utterly exhausted with his lead star.
“Sebastian—”
Sebastian turned and kicked a mop bucket. It went flying as he continued his tantrum. Dante saw me, and his eyes widened. He shook his head slightly, and I backed up, attempting to hide. However, Sebastian had seen Dante and spun around, catching sight of me immediately. His expression was...
Like a psycho killer’s.
He stormed over to me, stopping inches from my face, his boots nearly on my toes.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
I took a step back, putting my hands up in innocence. “What do you mean? I’m— I’m—”
“Last time I heard, you dropped out, left town, ghosted me again.”
His words boiled my blood. I straightened my spine, narrowing my gaze at him.
“My agent was murdered, you asshole. I was her only family. I had to get her body. That’s where I was,” I spat.
He shook his head.
“Yes. You just had to run to her. Take off, no warning, no explanation, into a potential trap. You’re so na?ve, Evie.”
He spun around and pointed to Dante.
“Don’t make me do this.” He shot a glare my way. “I’ll walk out of this studio and never fucking return again. Bye-bye, millions.”
“Sebastian,” Dante sighed. “We don’t have a choice.”
My jaw dropped. What was going on? Did he not want to do the scenes anymore?
“You signed a contract. It’s happening,” Dante said firmly.
I stood back and watched the director and his star fight.
I didn’t fully understand why Sebastian was so mad, other than the fact that I didn’t call him. I had no obligation to tell him where I was going or what I was doing. I’d told my work, and of course, the video had been all over the news. I just didn’t get it. His anger felt entirely selfish.
Maybe it was.
I realized, as I watched the pair scream at each other, that I purposely hadn’t tried to find alternate ways to contact him.
The day before I left, I’d had some major emotional changes I was struggling to come to terms with, and the idea of being near Sebastian was difficult for me.
If I saw him while in active grief and dealing with such a traumatic event, there was a chance I’d confess my growing feelings, and he’d convince me to stop my quest for revenge and simply stay with him and his dogs forever.
I couldn’t do that.
If I did, Antoinette would have died for nothing. I didn’t know who had taken and murdered her in cold blood, but it was clear they were connected to the six men on my list. Now, I wasn’t just killing to avenge my mom. I was killing for Antoinette as well.
My attention came back to reality when Sebastian turned toward me. I looked over, and he shook his head.
“We are paying you to flash your cock and pretend to fuck someone. Nowhere in your contract does it say who that person will be. Do your fucking job, Sebastian!” Dante screamed.
My heart sank. What was going on?
“Get Skye to set,” Dante ordered an assistant and stormed off. “We’re filming these goddamn scenes. I’m not losing my job over this.”
My lower lip trembled.
They didn’t want me anymore. I’d been recast.
I pressed my lips together tightly and lowered my shoulders. “I’ll go change to leave, then,” I mumbled. Why had they even bothered to dress me? All those confused looks throughout the lot now made sense. I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Sebastian turned and glared daggers at me. “Are you happy now? They thought you were gone for good, so now I have to film with her.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I had to.”
“Had to what? Not tell me?” Sebastian strode over, putting his hands on my upper arms. “I would have gone with you. That was dumb, Evie. You could have been killed.”
“I know that, but—” But what?
A moment later, Skye came in from behind Sebastian, already in her robe. Her normal smile was gone, replaced with a grim look of despair. Her eyes were always so reflective of her moods, and today, there was sadness in them.
“Evie, I’m so sorry.”
I pulled away from Sebastian and put a hand up. “It’s fine. It’s just a job. And…you wanted it more than me, anyway.” I took a deep breath and lied through my teeth. “I’m so happy for you.”
Dante came over, his eyes tired and his hair a mess from pulling on it. He did that often when stressed.
“We’ll talk about this later, Evie. This was out of my hands. I’m fighting to get you back in. Stick around and—”
Sebastian snorted, cutting him off.
“Well, Evie, what are you gonna do? Run back and hide in your trailer, or stay and watch me fuck someone else?”